Finding the Best Chinese Restaurant in Vancouver

Publicly, I am here to cover to Olympics for 11Alive and a handful of NBC affiliates across the country.

Privately, I am on a separate mission.

The Vancouver area has the third largest Chinatown in North America; many say the area where we’re staying, the city of Richmond, has a particularly amazing collection of Asian cuisine.

If I haven’t mentioned this before, I love food. LOVE food. And I really love Chinese food. REALLY LOVE it.

Last night, after getting off work “early” at 9 PM, I found myself with a rare bit of “down time” (read: two hours before going to sleep). So I began a side mission: to find the best Chinese restaurant in the Vancouver/Richmond area.

My first taste? Richmond’s Fisherman’s Terrace, recommended by no higher authority than the mayor of Richmond himself, Malcolm Brodie. It didn’t hurt that the restaurant was right across the street from our hotel — and open till 10 PM.

And even at 9 PM, it was quite busy.

I found it amusing that a restaurant this highly regarded was on the third floor of a shopping mall. But I soon discovered, location be darned, this place was absolutely for real.

I ordered the minced chicken and cream corn soup to start, then ordered the sauteed sea bass with vegetables as my main course. The service was a bit slow — it took about 20 minutes for the waiter to come by to take my order – but the food made it all worth it. Delicious, exquisite, savory — these would all be words to describe it. In fact, they might not even do it justice.

As time permits, I will continue to sample other Chinese restaurants in the Vancouver/Richmond area. But let’s just say this: it’s gonna be tough to top my first stop.

Fishermen’s Terrace: 9 out of 10 Forks!

My dish, only after 2/3 of it was eaten because I just then realized I should photograph this exquisite meal ...